


dead man walking tonight

by ShyAudacity



Series: Riverdale Prompt Fills [25]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Asexual Jughead Jones, Bathing/Washing, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Injuries, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Prompt Fill, Sick Character, Spooning, Worried Jughead Jones, just a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 09:51:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16302893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAudacity/pseuds/ShyAudacity
Summary: Archie groans as he rolls to a stop, just a few feet short of the rocks. There’s definitely a going to be a new rip in his jeans in the morning.I should get up, I still need to find Jug. I need to make sure he’s okay.But as much as he tries, Archie can’t move. His skin feels too hot, too tight, too much. And he’s so tired.He curls onto his side as much as he can- ignoring the way a stray rock digs into his arm- telling himself that he’ll get up, he just needs a minute. All Archie needs is to close his eyes for just a minute, then he’ll go find Jughead. Just a couple of minutes out here should do the trick, then he’ll go get Jughead… then he’ll be fine.Well, at least, that’s what he tells himself.ORSparrowFlight246 said: I think I’ve settled on someone (probably Jughead or Archie) getting hurt or sick and then lost in the forest. The Dads (FP, Fred, Sheriff Keller) go and find them and bring them home. Extra points for fever delirium and, of course, Jarchie.





	dead man walking tonight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SparrowFlight246](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparrowFlight246/gifts).



> I'm not compulsively posting this at ten at night when no one will see it nope no way.
> 
> Unbeta'd and title from Youngblood by 5SOS.

_I have to find Jug._

That’s the only that Archie is thinking about, getting back to Jughead. It started thundering a few minutes ago and he needs to get back before it gets too bad, so he can give Jughead a heads up- he never did like storms too much.

Despite it being cool and dark out, Archie still feels hot all over. No matter how much he pulls at his black t-shirt it still feels like it’s sticking to his skin, suffocating him. But that’s not important right now, what’s important is finding Jughead and warning him about the storm…

Now if only Archie could find him.

He doesn’t even realize that he’s in the middle of Fox Forest until he nearly face plants after tripping over a tree root. When the hell did he get here? This isn’t the way to Jughead's trailer, Jughead’s place is in the opposite direction of Sweet Water river. Archie looks around confused, then shrugs, tells himself that he’s just more tired than he originally realized.

It finally starts sprinkling when Archie turns around to go back towards Jughead’s, and it doesn’t take long after that for the rain to pick up, pelting down on Archie’s skin. The coolness of it feels good on his warm skin, but the sounds just make his head hurt. Wait- since when did he have a headache?

The thunder rolls over his head, and Archie reminds himself of the task at hand.

_I have to get to Jughead. I need to make sure that he’s okay._

He’s walking near the edge of the water now, his shirt nearly soaked through. A raindrop gets him right in the eye, and when he goes to try and rub it out, Archie slips on a patch of mud and goes tumbling to the ground- he hadn’t been paying attention to how close he was to a small cliff.

Archie groans as he rolls to a stop, just a few feet short of the rocks. There’s definitely a going to be a new rip in his jeans in the morning.

_I should get up, I still need to find Jug. I need to make sure he’s okay._

But as much as he tries, Archie can’t move. His skin feels too hot, too tight, _too much_. And he’s so tired.

He curls onto his side as much as he can- ignoring the way a stray rock digs into his arm- telling himself that he’ll get up, he just needs a minute. All Archie needs is to close his eyes for just a minute, then he’ll go find Jughead. Just a couple of minutes out here should do the trick, then he’ll go get Jughead, then he’ll be fine.

Well, at least, that’s what he tells himself.

***

Jughead groans when he gets woken up at eight in the morning by his father who’s leering over him. He stuffs his face back into his pillow.

“This better be good,” Jughead grumbles, he thinks he hears his father laugh.

“Freddie Andrews is at the door lookin’ to figure out where his son is,” FP tells him, gruffly. “Archie never made it home last night.”

Jughead’s whole body turns to ice in a second- that’s not a sentence he ever wanted to hear in his life.

Two minutes later the three of them are in the living room, Jughead is sitting on the couch, legs bouncing up and down like it’s all that he can manage.

“Walk us through last night, Jug.” Fred says. “We gotta figure out what’s going on if we're gonna track Archie down.” 

Jughead sighs, running his hands over his face. “We were playing videos games, that was it. I-I asked if he wanted to go to Pop’s and get a milkshake but he said he’d just go home instead. I offered to drive him but he wouldn’t let me, said he had a headache, wanted to walk it off or something.”

“A headache? Like he was getting sick?”

Jughead shrugs, “Maybe. I don’t know, he doesn’t usually tell me when he’s feeling bad.”

Fred curses under his breath, rubbing at his face. “Yeah, that makes two of us. Can you think of anywhere that he might have gone? Some place that we don’t know about? It’s a small town, it’s not like-.”

“The woods.” Jughead interrupts.

“The woods?” FP asks.

“Through the woods- crap, there’s a shortcut he takes when he’s running late, I- god, I should have just _driven him home_.”

FP lays a hand on his son's shoulder, “It’s alright, Jughead. You didn’t know this would happen.”

Jughead sighs again, looking up at the two older men.

“So? What do we do? How do we find Archie?”

“If he went through the woods while it was raining last night then he might still be there,” FP offers. “I’ll give Tom Keller a call, ask him to take a look through the woods. Fred and I will drive around town, see if there’s someplace else he might be that we hadn’t thought of yet.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Jughead asks.

“Why don’t you go back to our place, Jughead,” Fred supplies. “If nothing else, that’s gonna be the place where Archie shows up. It’ll be good to have someone there, just in case.”

He nods, trying to suppress the overwhelming panic that’s been coursing through his bloodstream since he woke up. Jughead grabs his beanie, the first pair of shoes he can find, and the keys to his bike before taking off- there’s no use in waiting around here anymore, not when he could be out looking for Archie.

The skies are unfairly clear and blue when Jughead pulls up to the Andrews house- it’s like they’re taunting him, saying _we know where your boyfriend is and wouldn’t you like to know huh kid. He could be anywhere but we’re the only ones with that information, we can see everything._

He can’t help but think about all the people they’ve lost in this town over the last year. Jason Blossom, Midge Klump, nearly Fred Andrews. As he’s walking up the front steps, Jughead decides right then and there that this town isn’t going to lose anybody else- certainly not Archie Andrews.

Not if he has anything to say about it.

***

Driving through the woods looking for a mostly lost teenager was not how Tom Keller had planned on spending his Saturday morning, but here he is.

He’s already circled through once, and Tom is starting to think that Archie isn’t even here. He’s driving near the river's edge, nearly ready to give up when he sees something- or _someone-_ lying near the edge of the water.

Tom curses under his breath as he kills the engine.

Archie Andrews is curled up on his side just a few feet short of the water, covered in a small layer of sweat and dead to the world; Tom drops to a knee next to him, shaking his shoulder- the poor kid is warm to the touch. 

“Archie. Archie, son, wake up.”

Archie’s eyes flutter open, glazed over with a fever and ten kinds of confused. He groans lightly, and Tom can’t imagine that that’s a good thing, lord only knows how long he’s been outside like this.

“Archie, you alright?”

Archie tries to roll onto his back, whining as he does so. “Wh- I don’t- _hmn_.”

“I know, I know it hurts, kiddo,” He says carefully. “Let me help you.”

Somehow, despite being nearly the same height, Tom is able to get Archie to his feet and into the back of the squad car. Once he’s settled in the backseat and slightly more cognitive, Tom tries talking to Archie, trying to make sense of this whole situation. Fred Andrews hadn’t told him too much on the phone other than he didn’t know where his son was.

When he turns around, however, Archie has his forehead pressed against the window, his body curved in on itself as much as possible, already halfway to being asleep again.

Tom sighs, tells himself that this story will figure itself out later, then starts the car again, headed towards third street.

***

It’s been nearly an hour of looking for Archie and Jughead hasn’t heard jack squat from anyone. He’s been pacing around the living room of the Andrews house for the last twenty minutes when he hears a car pull up. He runs to the window, relief filling him when he sees Tom Keller getting out of his car, moving towards the back door.

“Oh, _thank god_ ,” Jughead mutters to himself, then makes a dash for the front door. It’s a miracle that he doesn’t fall and hurt himself as he rushes down the wooden steps of the porch.

Archie looks up at Jughead after being helped out of the car, still clouded by his fever. He reaches for Jughead as soon as he’s close enough to touch, giving him a half-assed excuse for a hug; one of his hands is closed around the edge of Jughead’s t-shirt. 

Jughead’s relief is replaced with concern again when Archie just sags into his grip, hides his face in his neck, arms loose at his sides. It’s not like Archie to be this affectionate in around other people- in front of the father of one of their friends and Sheriff nonetheless. Jughead holds on as tight as he can, lest Archie fall to the ground and concuss himself.

 “Jesus, Archie, you’re on fire-,” Jughead says, one hand going to his hair, the other moving to Archie’s lower back. “Where was he?”

“Down at Sweet Water, near the shoreline.” Tom supplies.

Jughead doesn’t even want to think about what would have happened had Archie gotten any closer to the river.

“Where’s his dad? Is Fred around?”

He shakes his head, “Him and my Dad went for a drive around town, they were trying to look for Archie, too.”

“Alright, I’ll give him a call on my way back, see if he wants me to call an ambulance and get him checked over- are you gonna be alright?”

Jughead nods even though he’s not entirely sure yet. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll- we’ll be okay, Sheriff.”

After practically carrying him inside and upstairs, Jughead deposits Archie in the bathroom for a minute so he can grab a change of clothes for him- god love him, but that boy is desperately in need of a cold shower. Anything to try and bring his temperature down.

Archie is sitting on the floor in front of the tub- right where Jughead left him- he looks up when Jughead walks in, a little more color in his cheeks. Jughead takes a notice of this, carefully setting his clothes down by the sink.

“Hey, Arch.” He says, slowly, as if talking to an animal or a frightened child.

“You’re here,” Archie says, quiet and surprised.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here.” Jughead crouches down, extending his hand until it reaches Archie’s knee. “You back with me, big guy?” 

Archie nods, leaning forward until he can press a misguided kiss to the corner of Jughead’s mouth, then hide his face in Jughead’s shoulder, mumbling against his skin.

“Missed you.”

“You just saw me last night, you goof,” he laughs lightly. “You kicked my ass at Mario Kart like six times, remember?”

Archie just shrugs; Jughead decides to stop pressing him for questions, it’s obvious how exhausted he is.

Once he realizes that there was no way that Archie would be able to stand up on his own long enough to take a shower by himself, Jughead decides to run a bath. He lets the water run while he wrestles Archie out of his dirty clothes, checking periodically to make sure that it’s not too hot; he wouldn’t want to make Archie’s fever any worse than it already is.

Archie sighs when the water touches his skin, drawing his knees up to his chest; Jughead draws a wet cloth over his back, trying his hardest not to drip water onto the floor.

“Does it feel okay?” He asks softly, Archie nods into his knees.

Jughead tries to ignore the increasing panic that comes from Archie’s notable silence; it’s not like him to be this compliant.

Right as Jughead is finishing up washing Archie’s hair, Fred comes and stands in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest and looking only slightly relieved. He hadn’t even heard the front door open.

Jughead doesn’t even want to think about how worrying this whole morning has been for Fred- wondering whether or not they’d find his son in one piece. He makes a point not to question it, not now, at least.

“No ambo?”

Fred shakes his head, “Nah, he’s had enough excitement for one day. I think going to a hospital now might just stress him out… you wanna stick around, Jug?”

“If you don’t mind?”

“Fine with me. Besides, I think he’s gonna want you here when he wakes up.”

Jughead tilts his head in confusion as Fred walks off, looks over his shoulder only to find Archie has fallen asleep, he can’t help but laugh just a little.

“Arch, wake up,” he says gently “You can’t fall asleep yet, you’re not even in bed.”

Archie grunts at him in response and Jughead laughs again. His eyes fall to a bruise on Archie’s arm, it’s purple and yellow colors seem to taunt him. It makes Jughead think of something else.

“What were you doing out in the woods anyway, Arch?”

Archie stalls for a moment, turns his face more towards Jughead- his cheek is squished against his kneecap.

“… I was looking for you.”

“For me?”

“The storm was comin’ soon- I wanted to make sure you were safe, that you’d be okay. You hate thunder.”

Jughead feels his heart do something funny and then drop into his stomach. He thinks, _he got hurt because of me. If Keller hadn’t found him then- oh god. I did this to him. I did this to Archie. Shit._

Before he can stop himself, Jughead is pulling Archie to his chest, not caring that his head is still dripping wet. He kisses the side of Archie’s forehead, trying- and mostly failing- to not let his emotions get the better of him.

“We’re okay, Archie,” Jughead says near his ear, mainly for himself, “Everything is gonna be just fine.”

Archie hums, turns his head to kiss him once, twice- until he’s content- then leaves his head on its rightful place in the center of Jughead’s chest. They stay like that until Archie complains about being cold, then make their way into his bedroom.

Archie pulls Jughead down onto the bed without question. Jughead sits back against the wall, more than willing to let Archie get comfortable across his lap, a single sheet pulled over him. Archie mumbles into his legs a few minutes later.

“What did you say?”

“’M glad you’re here,” Archie says. “Glad that you came for me.”

Jughead wants to protest and tell him that he didn’t have much to do with his rescue, but then decides against it; there’s little point in fighting Archie when he’s like this. Instead, he runs his hands through Archie’s hair for a minute before lying down next to him, just grateful that this day didn’t go as badly as his subconscious kept telling him that it would.

This is exactly how Fred Andrews finds them later that afternoon. Both asleep,  Jughead pressed against Archie’s back, an arm slung over his waist.

Fred can’t help but smile- it’s the most peaceful moment he’s had since he woke up this morning.

 _This town is bad,_ he thinks to himself,  _but these kids are so, so good._ _I wouldn’t have it any other way._

**Author's Note:**

> That last line is a nod to ao3 user jugheadjones, fredheads on tumblr- you should go read her fics, they're all dope as shit. Also she's jsut a generally fantastic person. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comments/Kudos are appreciated and encouraged! You can leave a prompt here if you want to or at my tumblr archieandrewsprotectionsquad. Thanks again for reading, have a great day!


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